4/26/2010 @ 6:00AM

The Big Deal: Asus' Jonney Shih

The easy deals can be made by anyone. The big, meaningful ones draw on the experience of a lifetime–as well as lots of moxie and luck. Forbes is asking leaders in business and other fields about their pivotal “big deals.”

Jonney Shih is chairman of Asus, the sixth-largest personal computer maker in the world. In 2007 Asus was the first PC maker to market a netbook. Called the Eee PC, the lightweight, low-cost laptop was an immediate hit. Today Asus makes an entire line of Eee-branded products. But as Shih explains, the original device almost was overlooked. He spoke with Forbes’ Elizabeth Woyke.

Shih: In 2006 I was trying my best to assemble different kinds of business units and thinking how Asus could disrupt innovation. I came up with the Eee PC. At that time, our notebook business was doing very well and the person in charge of our notebook unit didn’t seem that interested in developing the Eee PC. I realized that if the notebook division took charge of the project, maybe it wouldn’t be that successful. They might think this is just a small, unimportant device.

Around that time, I found that the attributes of a particular business unit head were perfectly matched with this project. There was a person named Jerry Shen who led the motherboard division. He could make a “mission: impossible” really successful. This challenge fit with his personality. So finally I made a decision that the motherboard business unit should take charge of the Eee PC.

I told Shen that he needed to think about the future, think about what was the next platform. His team worked very hard on the Eee PC, day and night, and did the best job that they have ever done.

That was a very important decision. If I had left the Eee PC project in the notebook division, the whole result would be different. And Jerry Shen is now the chief executive officer of Asus.